1. Field of the Invention
The present invention belongs to the field of electric connectors with a tine plate that is to line up the legs of contacts.
2. Related Art
Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication Heisei 9-35829 and counterpart U.S. Pat. No. 5,827,076 disclose a tine plate for an electric connector that comprises a plurality of contacts each having a tine part to be inserted into a through hole of a board and a contacting part to contact a contact of a counterpart mutually-engaging connector, and further comprises a housing having the plurality of contacts arranged therein. The tine plate has a plurality of through holes formed therein for the tine parts of the contacts to be inserted respectively into the through holes. The through holes are arranged in a lining-up position to line up the tine parts by making the tine parts respectively penetrate through the plurality of through holes. The tine plate is characterized in that a slot for interconnecting at least two or more of the through holes is provided.
Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication Heisei 10-154537 discloses a board mount type connector, and this connector is provided with a tine plate. This tine plate has three rows of through holes that correspond to the number of contacts. Some through holes of a row of through holes, which is the closest to the housing among these rows of through holes, are interconnected with each other by slots. With this arrangement, even when there is a difference in coefficient of thermal expansion between a board and the tine plate, stresses that are generated in the soldering parts of the legs are moderated, hence solder cracking does not take place (refer to paragraph 0012 of the publication).
When such a tine plate is mounted on an electric connector, the legs of a plurality of contacts, which substantially extend in parallel to each other, will be neatly lined up by the tine plate, hence when these legs are to be inserted into the insertion holes of a printed circuit board so as to mount the electric connector on the printed circuit board, the workability of this mounting can be enhanced. Moreover, the tine plate can cover and protect the legs of the contacts.
When there is a difference in thermal expansion quantity between a tine plate and a printed circuit board due to a difference in coefficient of thermal expansion, etc. between them, it will pose such a trouble that, due to variations in the service ambient temperature, the tine plate and the legs of the contacts that are soldered onto the printed circuit board interfere with each other, resulting in generation of cracks in the soldering parts of the legs. The inventions of the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication Heisei 9-35829 and Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication Heisei 10-154537 prevent this trouble by providing the tine plate with slots that interconnect through holes.